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LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES
Regular Meeting dune 14, 2001
6:00 p.m.
Council Liaison: Marty Tharp Staff Liaison: Brenda Cams
(Phone 221-6670)
Chairperson: Mary Robertson
(Phone: 407-7066)
A regular meeting of the Library Board was held on June 14, 2001 in the Ben Delatour Room of
the Main Library. The following Library Board members were present: Carolyn Haase, Lisa
Helme, Rudy Maes, Mary Robertson, and Joan Scheuerman.
Library Board Member Absent:
City Staff Members Present:
Guests:
Friends of the Library Liaison:
Charles Robles
Brenda Cams and Marjorie Teklits
Ray Martinez, Mayor
Marty Tharp, City Council Member and Liaison to
the Library Board
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The meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m. by the Chairperson, Mary Robertson.
A motion was made by Rudy Maes to approve the minutes of the May 10, 2001 meeting;
Carolyn Haase seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved.
Library Board members welcomed Mayor Ray Martinez and Council Member Marty Tharp to
the meeting and introductions were exchanged.
Marty Tharp said she was happy to be able to attend tonight's meeting and will attempt to attend
future meetings from time to time, when scheduling permits. She suggested Library Board
members funnel their requests, comments, and suggestions for other Council members through
her.
Correspondence
Copies of the most recent Six Month Agenda Planning Calendar were distributed along with two
articles entitled: Libraries Score Big with Voters and Libraries as Equity Building Blocks.
Reports/Presentations
a. Director — Brenda Cams
Brenda thanked Library Board members who attended the May 30th reception to unveil
the new library software, OWL (Our Web Library), the HealthAware collection and
bilingual services collections. Lisa said the event, which had a very good turnout, was
wonderfully organized, and she was pleased to have the opportunity to speak to staff.
Brenda shared copies of the service level requests submitted by the library for the
2002/2003 budget as well as a description of the positions and why they are needed. In
their letter to the Budget Office, the Library Board recommended the first four items
(Library Assistant -Special Services Coordinator, funding to retain hourly staff, a Youth
Services Librarian, and a Security Guard).
Also distributed were descriptions of the library's productivity improvements over the
past two years and future issues of concern, such as parking, finding funds in the
materials budget to purchase items in multiple formats (CD, Video, DVD) as requested
by customers, adequate staffing, adequate electronic resources, and the ability to maintain
sufficient resources to meet demand.
One reason why the book budget shrunk this year was that $48,000 was used from the
materials budget to increase the starting rate for hourly staff from $6.17 to $7.00 per hour.
A benchmark chart comparing Percentage of Active Cardholders, Materials per Capita,
and Material Turnover Rate to the national average over the last five years was also
distributed. It shows that Fort Collins has a consistently higher percentage of active
cardholders and material turnover rate than the national average and is consistently below
the national average in materials per capita owned by the library.
Brenda shared a copy of the City's 2001 Citizen Survey results; it will be routed to Board
members for their information.
b. Friends of the Library -- Joanna Lambert
The Friends are having a mid -summer book sale at Harmony, July 21 and 22. They are
hoping it will be as successful as last winter's sale when $11,500 was raised. The annual
fall sale is scheduled in October at Foothills Fashion Mall. Jim Warner will be writing
an article for July's Focus segment of The Coloradoan.
Many volunteers from the Friends are working on the petition drive; they are making sure
to emphasize that an increase in sales tax would not be on food and drug items and that
Fort Collins would still have one of the lowest tax rates on the front range. Many County
residents ask to sign the petitions and are concerned they may not be allowed to use a
new main library.
C. Committee Reports:
County/State/National -
As Charles Robles was unable to attend tonight's meeting, updates will be given at a
future meeting.
City Council Relations - Rudy Maes
Mary Robertson said that the library has been traditionally under funded when compared
to other libraries in the state. She asked Mayor Martinez if he had any advice to further
the case to obtain better funding. He said that if the library gets on the November ballot,
the funding situation will improve, including operations and maintenance costs.
After looking at the staffing requests for the next budget cycle which Brenda distributed,
Marty Tharp remarked on the number of staff needs presented and that it is good to see
them prioritized because the needs exceed what is available to distribute; they obviously
all can't be approved and tough decisions will have to be made.
Mayor Martinez asked what the library will do to keep functioning if the bond issue does
not pass. Brenda said that services will eventually become less efficient and effective.
As more demands are placed on staff, they will have less resources and services will
suffer. Because of previous space shortages, it was necessary to move the Technical
Services department to rented space in a location offsite. If the bond issue does not pass,
other actions may be needed, such as dividing up the meeting room space for books and
materials or staff work space and possibly moving the administration staff out of the
building. A small storefront library, similar to the Mini Library would help alleviate
congestion at the Main Library. Seeking partnerships with others, such as Poudre Valley
Hospital, for a joint -library branch is another option. Mayor Martinez said that the
storefront library concept is a good idea. Also, tele-communicating with customers to
meet their needs.
Lisa said that in some ways, staff has coped so well that the need for a larger facility may
not be apparent to the public. They are getting books when they need them; they have the
storytime room. If the bond issue doesn't pass, the public will eventually start seeing the
frayed edges, wait longer for books, and have to request more materials from other
libraries. Lisa believes that a future issue for the library would have a much better chance
of passing if it were not packaged with other efforts.
Carolyn said that other options might be to use vacated spaces from the School District
and partnerships with their media centers. Also the library should look at State library
grant opportunities and access to funds through Federal levels. The library should have a
skilled staff person responsible for monitoring opportunities from the Colorado
Department of Education of the State Library. Grant opportunities need to be identified
and followed through.
Mayor Martinez said that if the bond issue does not pass, the LINC libraries will become
key elements. Brenda said that the most successful component is the use of the LINC
libraries at the elementary schools during the summer. As funding decreased a choice
had to be made between funding high school and elementary media center LINC sites,
and the school district chose to keep elementary school media centers open because they
were more heavily used. Also, high school media centers do not have a collection that
can be used interchangeably with adults as many believe. It was hoped by the
anonymous donor that the City and Schools would pick up funding of the LINC libraries
when the money ran out. Grant opportunities for such programs often require a
commitment of continuing funds.
Lisa Helme said that we see the library system slowly going downhill. The LINC
libraries only serve a small segment of the population; they are just a small bandaid on
the overall problem. If the bond issue does not pass, we hope this gives us an opportunity
to try again with the library a separate issue. Mayor Martinez agreed it might have a
better chance that way.
Mary Robertson mentioned the proposal being considered by City Council of a
transportation issue on the ballot. Since it would be in competition with the
library/performing arts/museum issue, how would one affect the other? Mayor Martinez
said that transportation is considered a primary service whereas the library is considered a
secondary service and that major road repairs are needed. Marty Tharp added that it is
unfortunate both could be on the ballot at the same time; people will have to make a
choice --one, the other, or both --but that this is hard on secondary services. A good
campaign demonstrating why library services are needed and why it is part of the growth
issue is needed. She mentioned the recent article in the Wall Street Journal about the fine
quality of life in Fort Collins. She said you have to have roads and also need the extras;
"secondary" services are sometimes underestimated, but it is up to the voters; it will take
a good campaign to show the need for them because of growth.
Ray Martinez said that if the public asks Council members which is more important,
some will say transportation because it is a primary service; a daily need; they live it;
they ride it. He said that there are many issues on the ballot, the economy is down, but
you never know how it can turn out.
Regarding the discontinuance of County funding for library services, Mayor Martinez
mentioned that the County does not charge the City when prisoners are brought to the
Detention Center. Sometimes it is difficult to work out such things. Marty Tharp asked
about charging County residents for use of the library; Brenda said this was done in the
1980s and that, not only were people outraged, it cost more to do it than not. Mayor
Martinez mentioned that districting might be another option. Brenda said that if Council
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supported districting, this might be the way to go. She was on a Countywide committee
studying the concept, and it was found that many cities don't want to relinquish control of
their libraries.
Mayor Martinez wished the library luck and success in getting people behind the
campaign.
Marty Tharp asked the Board what they would like her to do. She feels it is difficult to
distinguish between primary and secondary services.
Mary Robertson said that the Library Board felt library services are primary, that libraries
are the foundation of our democracy. When it comes to streets and police services, does
every single thing need to be funded 100%. Why couldn't they be partially funded as
some pieces may not be fundamental to safeguarding people's lives.
Board members agreed that attending the September 18' Council meeting would be a
good opportunity to provide their comments, explain why money is needed, emphasize
priority issues and what services the library won't be able to offer if they do not get a new
facility. They will invite a local business person to explain how the library is an asset
that is important for the City's economic wellbeing. Joanna added that the library is
subsidized a great deal through volunteer efforts by the Friends and others in the
community and that the Friends organization is saving to donate $100,000 for a new main
library.
Community Public Relations - Lisa Helme
Copies of Rudy Mae's May 28' soapbox article in The Coloradoan entitled, Library
opens book to multiculturalism, were distributed.
Lisa and Joan will give a presentation and question and answer session to the Friends of
the Library at a meeting on July 11 in the Delatour Room at 7 p.m. They are hoping to
fine tune their presentation and meet with other groups, such as the PTA and book
groups. They plan to ask what people want in a new main library and what they perceive
the needs are now. If the issue gets on the November ballot, these meetings would be a
means of informing and sharing information.
Brenda will check with the City Attorney's office to clarify Board member roles when
acting as spokespersons.
Once it is known if the library issue will be on the November ballot, Lisa will help
coordinate topics and authors for some Soapbox articles.
Childrens/Young Adult Services - Carolyn Haase
Carolyn is planning to attend the Summer Reading Program kick-off program, "Fabulous
Flying Machines," June 18 at Harmony Library. She said this excellent program should
attract hundreds of children and receive excellent media coverage.
Carolyn has been visiting the Children's departments in nearby communities to get
impressions of what they have to offer. She also plans to visit some in Minnesota. She
said the Children's Lead Librarian and her staff are doing a truly excellent job with this
year's program.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Marjorie Teklits
Administrative Secretary